Greg Giugliano, Firmwide Partner-In-Charge of Assurance Services, Featured in AccountingToday Article "The Next Wave in Auditing"

By its very nature, the audit function has to be somewhat conservative and backward-looking -- but that doesn't mean it's immune to change.

In fact, a recent confluence of new regulations and new technological developments - as well as some much-noted demographic developments - have set the stage for major changes in the way auditors pursue their craft. We convened a group of experts to examine how these trends are changing the practice of auditing, and how they expect them to play out in the future.

What do you think are the most important developments in auditing over the past few years?

Greg Giugliano (partner-in-charge, National Assurance Practice, Top 100 Firm Marcum LLP): The past few years have seen a multitude of new standards, [but] the substance of the audit remained relatively unchanged. However, there have been some notable exceptions: There has been a favorable change in auditors' communications with audit committees (or those charged with governance); the increased communication is meant to improve auditor independence, by having the auditors deal directly with interested, hopefully independent parties, other than management.

In addition, there have been improvements in the audit standards regarding the auditing of accounting estimates, including fair value estimates; as part of these improvements, there has been an exponential increase in the use of fair value specialists in an audit.

Marcum LLP's experience within the Healthcare industry covers the full continuum of care with a special focus within the post-acute care geriatric segments of the industry, hospitals and physician practices.

Marcum LLP is one of the largest independent public accounting and advisory services firms in the nation, with offices in major
business markets throughout the U.S., as well as Grand Cayman, China and Ireland.